As a guy whose relatives lived through Medellin, Colombia in the 1980s, I can tell you it was no haven of peace and tranquility.
A narcostate corrupt in spirit and deed, the drug cartels operated there with impunity. The military, judiciary, and police were compromised to the point of collaboration and paralysis. Modern Mexico is going the same way. The big difference with Colombia? Mexico sits right on our border.
Her citizens know of the troubles, hence why they are fleeing the failed state by the millions. The open border policy of the Biden administration encourages the unlawful mass exodus by ignoring the growing threat of Mexican instability. In fact, the Mexican president recently said his country was safer than many American cities. Sounds like a draw to me. But recent developments do not bode well for Mexico or her reliability as a neighbor.
From Fox News on Monday, “Two Mexican soldiers and five cartel gunmen were killed Friday when a military unit was ambushed in southwest Mexico. A Mexican military unit ‘was the target of an attack by approximately 18 armed civilians aboard two vehicles’ on Friday, the Mexican military said in a statement, according to a CBS report Monday. The shootout erupted in the town of El Pescado, which is located in a mountainous area of the state of Guerrero and has often been the site of clashes between Mexican authorities and cartel members.”
The Mexican drug cartels feel strong enough to take on the Army? Sounds like a less ambitious version of the Medellin Cartel planned and financed 1985 M-19 attack on the Colombian Supreme Court. When drug cartels feel they can take on the state in conventional armed assaults all is not well at the core of the nation in question. But wait, there’s more.
On Sunday Mexican military forces and police seized the facilities of an American firm in Mexico. About a century ago we would have sent in the US Cavalry. Now we huff and puff, signifying nothing.
“The (Mexican) government’s participation in this gross violation of our property rights is yet another example of the government’s arbitrary and illegal treatment of Vulcan and its investments in Mexico. This occupation must cease immediately,” the company president said.
“This forcible seizure of private property is unlawful and unacceptable. It is shameful that this Mexican presidential administration would rather confiscate American assets than the fentanyl killing hundreds of Americans per day,” Senator Katie Britt, Republican of Alabama, said.
“Getting pretty used to the Biden administration letting China and Russia kick sand in our faces (covid and fentanyl deaths, spy balloons, taking down U.S. MQ-9 Reaper)—but now Mexico, too?” former DNI John Ratcliffe tweeted on Sunday.
“The Biden administration needs to engage immediately to defend a U.S. company and to protect U.S. interests. This is the only deep water port on the Yucatán Peninsula. Significant geopolitical and economic implications,” he added.
There you have it. With Russia and China forming a modern day Axis, the Norks blustering and testing missiles, Taiwan in the crosshairs of Beijing, and the Ukraine War showing no signs of ending, we can add serious instability in Mexico to this geopolitical shop of horrors. So strap in. It may get bumpy.